It has been a long time–15-16 years?since the Willits High School football teams have played the Ukiahi Wildcats. Last Friday night, the Division 4 Wolverines hosted the Division 2 Wildcats in exciting, high-scoring games for both the jayvee and varsity squads.

Both Wolverine teams led in the second half against the much larger school, but the Wildcats outmatched the jayvees, 26-20, and varsity, 55-40.

Both varsity teams entered the game with a 2-0 record, and the score remained close most of the game.

Willits began the game with an onside kick that Ukiah picked up at the 49-yard line. Despite a holding call and two false starts by the Wildcats, they completed a fourth-and-25 with a throw into the end zone that put them on the board first.

The Wolverines blocked the point after attempt and, with 8:51 on the clock, began their drive up the field.

Quarterback Kailer Collicott and running backs Joe Sasso, James Arms and Wyatt Sanderson picked up several first downs moved the Wolverines closer to the goal line. The Wildcats struggled to stop Willits” running game, but with first and goal at the 6-yard line, Arms took the handoff and ran straight up the middle to score the Wolverines” first touchdown. Their drop kick for the extra point was blocked, tying the score at 6-6 with 2:28 to go in the first quarter.

The Wildcats ate up four minutes on the clock during their next drive, which ended with a 7-yard run into the end zone. A two-point conversion pass came up short, leaving the score 12-6 with 10:53 to go in the half.

Sam White recovered a Wildcat onside kick at the 46-yard line. After a quick first down, Willits faced fourth-and-7 at the 32. A long pass into the end zone fell incomplete, but pass interference was called against the Wildcats, putting the ball half the distance to the goal. The Wolverines put together a drive from the 16-yard line that included six running plays and ended with Sanderson driving up the middle into the end zone for the touchdown. A two-point conversion was no good, and the score was tied 12-12 with 4:08 in the half.

The Wildcat offense struggled on its next drive, and on a fourth-and-10 pass David Sandiego intercepted the ball at Ukiah”s 26-yard line.

The Wolverines had used several minutes off the clock on their drives up the field to the end zone up to this point. Their next drive took just 14 seconds, and ended with Sasso taking a handoff, and finding his way through the line and up the field, outrunning everyone 79 yards to the end zone.

Willits led 18-12 with just over 3 minutes to go in the second quarter.

The Wildcats moved the ball up the field quickly, and with just 47 seconds left on the clock scored on a run and then completed a two-point conversion, giving Ukiah the lead 20-18 with 37 seconds left in the half.

Willits took over at its 28-yard line. On the second play in the drive, Collicott threw a quick pass to the wide receiver, who lateralled to Sasso. Sasso broke to the outside and headed up the sideline for a 57-yard touchdown run as time expired.

Willits went into the third quarter with the score 24-20.

“At halftime we talked about how we needed to keep the intensity up in the second half and not to make any mental mistakes,” said Sasso. “Once they beat us deep on some of the passes, there was a huge momentum swing and you could tell people were starting to give up.”

The Wildcats played better in the third quarter, stopping Willits” running game, while

scoring two more touchdowns, going into the fourth quarter with a 34-24 lead.

Willits finally found the end zone and scored on a run by Arms, who also scored the two-point conversion, bringing the Wolverines to within two points of the Wildcats with 10:25 to play.

In the next six minutes Ukiah scored two more touchdowns, and with just four minutes left in the game led 48-32.

Desperate to come from behind, the Wolverines fumbled the kickoff return at their 23-yard line, and the Wildcats took the opportunity to score on a pass into the end zone that gave them a 55-32 lead with 2:20 to play.

Unwilling to give up, the Wolverines began their next possession at their 35 and, after a pass to Sanderson from Collicott, scored on a 65-yard touchdown run. Arms ran the ball up the middle to score the two-point conversion, making the score 55-40 with 2:08 to play.

But the Wildcats ran out the clock, giving the Wolverines no chance to score.

Ukiah Coach Jeff Schueller praised the Willits team and its coaching staff. “I would like to see them win their division,” he said. “They”re a class act. The town of Willits should be proud of them.

“We”ve got a lot to work on. They helped us a lot. Everyone was saying, ”What are you doing playing Willits?” But thank goodness we did. It exposed some things. We have a lot to clean up.

“Both teams played hard. What a crowd! This is great for Mendocino County to have this game.”

Willits Head Coach Nat Collicott was proud of his teams” efforts on the field. “Our kids did a great job tonight. It was definitely a win-win. The game has a lot of value for us.

“I don”t think we”ll see anybody like [Ukiah] until the playoffs. Ukiah, that is a great team right there. They”re going places.”